Chapter 6
“Goodness!” Juliet said when her brother was gone.
“What a to-do. I always thought that Johnathan Skeffington was a louse, and now I know why Jeremy never wanted me anywhere near him. He’s certainly a bad man to take advantage of our sweetest, prettiest maid.
The good thing is that now we shall have my cousins to gad about with, and you will enjoy them very much, I daresay. ”
An hour later, the Lynches arrived. They were not much older than Juliet and me, and I could instantly see that they were both very pleasant and agreeable.
“Thank you ever so much for coming on short notice,” Juliet said.
“We are delighted to be of service,” Marianne Lynch said. “Besides, it is so dull being always at home.”
“She means being always at home with my mother and father,” Robert Lynch said.
“Now, you know I love your mother and father very much,” Marianne scolded her husband lightly.
“Of course, but they are forever asking us to fetch them a shawl or bring them their walking stick, or one thing or the other. You would think they didn’t have servants aplenty for all of that.”
“I’m surprised they wanted to make the trek to London from the country. But I suppose they didn’t want to change their tradition of being in London for the Season.”
Eventually I ventured to ask, “Which of you is Juliet’s cousin?”
“We both are,” they said in unison. Marianne continued, “I’m their cousin on their mother’s side, and Robert is their cousin on their father’s side. That is why we are so close and get on so well.”
“Or we are just great people,” Robert suggested.
Soon it was arranged that we would attend a concert together that evening. “If I’d had the forethought,” Robert said, “I would have secured tickets to the opera.”
“Well, you couldn’t have known what would happen today and that we would all be together,” Marianne said.
“How glad I am that you are my cousins,” Juliet said. “You are so much more interesting and diverting than my brother.”
“You may not say that in about six or seven months’ time.” Robert arched his eyebrows at them.
“Robert, you shouldn’t be talking of such things,” Marianne said in a hushed voice.
Juliet gasped. “You’re having a baby!”
Marianne nodded.
The couple accepted our congratulations and well wishes, and I vowed then and there that I would have a marriage like Robert and Marianne Lynch’s—pleasant and lighthearted.
I’d always thought my parents had a good marriage.
They were respectful and deferential of each other, but I rarely heard them say anything playful toward each other.
But that was probably just the fault of their personalities.
They always seemed much older than they were, now that I thought about it.
As we arrived at the concert that evening, two gentlemen stood outside the music hall. They turned toward Juliet and me with flirtatious stares.
“Do you know them?” I whispered to Juliet.
“A little. Marianne, will you and Robert introduce us?”
Soon we were properly introduced to George Fairweather and Alfred Wallcroft, both from Cambridge.
“May we escort you ladies into the concert hall?” George Fairweather said.
Juliet took Mr. Fairweather’s arm, and I placed my hand lightly on Mr. Wallcroft’s wrist. I felt as if we were promenading as we walked into the concert hall. Several people were staring at us. I pretended not to notice.
I suspected, however, that once Mr. Wallcroft, much like every gentleman with whom I’d danced and who had called on me, realized that I had very little fortune, he’d cease to pay me any sort of attention at all.
Mr. Fairweather seated himself beside Juliet, while Mr. Wallcroft sat beside me, leaving Marianne and Robert to sit farther down in the row. Was this proper? I glanced at Marianne.
Mrs. Lynch raised her eyebrows, but her lips were curled in a slight smile.
I’d never attended a concert by professional musicians and singers.
As I watched the impassioned way the musicians played their violins and other instruments and listened to the singer as she sang each note flawlessly, tears stung my eyes.
It was oddly stirring to hear songs sung with such emotion.
I felt as if I were floating, dreaming, transported.
Truly, how enjoyable it would be to be able to attend a concert as good as this one multiple times a year.
Mr. Wallcroft sat beside me. He was silent, for which I was grateful. I could see and hear Mr. Fairweather whispering every so often to Juliet. It was very rude of him to interrupt Juliet’s enjoyment of the music, but she didn’t seem to mind.
When the concert was over, the gentlemen stood talking with Juliet’s cousins. “May we call on you?” Mr. Fairweather asked.
Marianne looked at us, but seeing we didn’t object, she said, “You may. Juliet, will you give them your card?”
Juliet had already fished one out of her tiny purse and was giving it to Mr. Fairweather.
“I shall look forward to seeing you again,” he said.
Soon we were bidding each other a good night and getting into our carriage. Juliet was obviously very excited.
“Mr. Fairweather said he has a curricle, and he wants to take me out riding in it.”
“Not until your brother returns,” Marianne said. “I don’t wish to face his wrath if Mr. Fairweather isn’t to his standards.”
“I’m not sure it’s proper to go riding with a gentleman without a chaperone,” I said quietly to Juliet while Robert and Marianne were speaking to each other.
“Then you may come with us,” Juliet said.
“But I heard him say it was a two-seater.”
“Oh, all will be well.” Juliet waved her hand. “He may not call on us anyway. I saw him talking to another young lady as we were leaving.”
“You did?” Was the man so fickle?
“Never mind. But I do think his friend, what was his name?”
“Mr. Wallcroft.”
“I daresay Mr. Wallcroft will call on you, Amelia. You are ever so pretty, and I could see he admired you.”
“Perhaps.” I had not thought him bold enough to call on me without his friend by his side, but we would see.
The next day the two gentlemen did indeed call on us.
It began as a usual kind of call, with the usual dull conversation.
“It is very good to see you again, Miss Moore,” Mr. Wallcroft said.
“Thank you. It is good to see you as well.”
“Your brother is Jeremy Beaumont,” George Fairweather was saying to Juliet. “Is he not home?”
“No, he had some business in Kent.”
“Would you like to go for a ride today in my curricle?”
“I think it is too rainy for that,” Marianne said, her tone a bit incredulous.
“The curricle does have a top,” Mr. Fairweather said.
“But it is quite open in front and on the sides,” Marianne said. “I know the very kind of carriage it is, and it is impossible not to become quite wet in this kind of weather.”
Mr. Fairweather said nothing.
There was also the problem of the two of them riding together without a third person to make it entirely respectable and proper, but I didn’t wish to dampen everyone’s mood.
Someone mentioned we had tickets to a theatrical that evening. “Perhaps you could get tickets and come with us,” Juliet said.
I began to think that she liked Mr. Fairweather more than I thought she did. But she had said very little about him, so I concluded that she was only being friendly. Juliet was ever of the belief in the more the merrier.
“These things are commonly sold out well before the evening of the performance,” Robert said. “I bought these tickets weeks ago.”
Mr. Fairweather’s face was crestfallen. “I seem to be always thwarted.”
He looked like one of my younger brothers, pouting because he didn’t get what he wanted. I nearly laughed. But Juliet seemed genuinely concerned.
“Perhaps if we go there and inquire . . .”
“No, I’m sure Mr. Lynch is correct. They would not have any more tickets so late and during the Season.”
We all sat in silence.
Soon Mr. Fairweather and Mr. Wallcroft took their leave of us. As Mr. Wallcroft was saying farewell to Robert and Marianne, I heard Mr. Fairweather say quietly to Juliet, “I shall bring my curricle tomorrow and take you riding. It is the most exhilarating feeling, the wind in your face.”
I didn’t hear what Juliet said, but I hoped she’d find an excuse not to go with him.
In any case, her cousins would stop her.
It would not be good to do anything that gave the appearance of impropriety.
A lady’s reputation could be easily ruined, as I’d heard many times from various relatives and nosy neighbors—and seen for myself in the gossip columns.
When calling hours were over, we sat down for a lively game of cards with Robert and Marianne. I’d never thought myself much of a card player, but they made it more enjoyable, with their high spirits and wit and Juliet’s enthusiasm for strategy.
We played until it was time to get ready for the theater, which turned out to be just as pleasant as the music concert.
The play was very dramatic and ended better than I’d expected.
The actors seemed perfect for their parts, and as much as I’d heard that acting was demeaning to women and improper, I saw nothing improper or demeaning at all.
I saw only talent and beauty and drama of the best kind.
We went home in the Lynches’ carriage amid lively conversation.
I thought I would take a long time to get to sleep, as my mind kept going over and over the play’s plot, but Juliet fell asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow, and I soon followed.
The next morning, when we were nearly finished breakfasting, Jeremy Beaumont arrived home. His shoulders drooped a bit, something I’d never observed before, and his eyelids likewise hung low, dark smudges shading the underside.
“Oh, Jeremy, couldn’t you have stayed away another night?” Juliet said. “I was about to convince our cousins to take us to the pleasure gardens at Vauxhall.”
He frowned. “I’m glad I was missed.”
“We can go to Vauxhall if you like,” Robert said, then glanced at his wife. “If you are not too tired, my dear.”
“Not at all. Vauxhall Gardens is one of my favorite places. It is our cousin Jeremy who looks tired. Will you be able to go with us, Jeremy?”
He had already started climbing the staircase, as we had met him in the hallway to welcome him back. He turned around slowly.
“I will probably forgo the pleasure. But you should do as you wish. Go and enjoy yourselves.” His eyes met mine, inexplicably, and he didn’t look disapproving, as I would have expected.
“Was your errand’s outcome favorable?” I couldn’t help asking. Everyone standing there knew what his errand had been, after all.
“I accomplished what I set out to do.” He met my eye again, as if searching my thoughts. “He will provide for Rebecca and the child.”
“I am very glad of that.”
He gave me a slight nod.
Were we becoming friends? Perhaps that was too optimistic. But I couldn’t think quite as ill of him, since he’d so quickly championed Rebecca and forced his friend to take responsibility for his child.
When Jeremy had disappeared up the stairs, Marianne asked, “Shall we go to Vauxhall?”
“Yes!” Juliet said. “Amelia?”
“I’ve never been there and would be happy to see it.”
“Let us go, then,” Robert said.
We arrived at the gardens about two hours before dark, when most of the fashionable people promenaded to be seen. But I’d had a wish to see it in the daylight, and it was everything I’d imagined and more.
As we strode along the Grand Walk, I saw a waterfall, a rotunda, an open-air colonnade, multi-level pavilions, and under one large pavilion was a group of musicians playing beautiful music. There was so much to see and hear that I was nearly breathless.
“Come, let us go to that temple over there.” Juliet nodded at the structure in the distance.
She’d told me that Mr. Fairweather had said that if she was able to come to Vauxhall, he would wait for her at the Temple of Comus, which was located at one end of the Grand Walk.
These pleasure gardens were so vast, however, that I wondered how we’d ever find it, or if that was even the same temple he’d been speaking of.
I felt as if I could walk around gazing at everything all day long and never see it all. But as we drew near the “temple,” which was more of a very long colonnade that was open along one side, I could see Mr. Fairweather standing between two columns, smiling at us, with Mr. Wallcroft by his side.
“Is that Mr. Fairweather and Mr. Wallcroft?” Marianne asked.
“I believe it is.” Juliet smirked.
I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
Juliet hurried over, and the rest of us followed.
“What a wonderful coincidence, seeing you here,” Mr. Fairweather said with a cheeky grin.
“Miss Moore, how delightful,” Mr. Wallcroft said to me, just before both gentlemen greeted Mr. and Mrs. Lynch.
We started to walk along the wide promenade, Juliet on Mr. Fairweather’s arm and me on Mr. Wallcroft’s, when Mr. Fairweather suggested, “Let us go over to the music room. I believe there is a concert there, and we can sit and enjoy the music.”
“And even if there isn’t a concert,” Juliet said, “the music room is in a rotunda that is said to be very elegant, an architectural beauty.”
We entered the rotunda, and there was indeed a concert being held there.
There weren’t six seats together, though.
While Robert and Marianne were glancing around, no doubt searching for empty seats and the best arrangement, Mr. Fairweather, Juliet, and Mr. Wallcroft quickly sat in the back row near the door.
Marianne pursed her lips and Robert scowled, but a moment later they seated me and themselves three rows up, the closest place with three seats together.
The uneasy feeling was quite strong now.
I truly didn’t mind being separated from Mr. Wallcroft. Something about him made me nervous, as if I had to behave in a haughty way, as he had a very formal air.
With Marianne and Robert, I was free to be myself. I never felt as if they were judging me or expecting me to behave in any certain way.
My thoughts were carried away by the music on a blissful cloud of melodious sound, especially the high strains of the violin, speaking as if with words, as if avoiding thoughts and connecting directly to emotions.
When the music ended and the musicians lowered their instruments, I glanced over my shoulder, but now Mr. Wallcroft was sitting alone in the back row. The seats where Juliet and Mr. Fairweather sat were empty.
My heart sank.
Marianne was staring at the empty seats as well. We both stood as Robert gave us a questioning look.
“Juliet is gone,” we said in unison.